April 2021 – Huastory 画说文史

街头开了一家新的咖啡馆，要不要过去坐坐？

There’s a new cafe in town. Let us check it out!

你大步走过去，打开玻璃门，迎面而来的不是咖啡香，却是谈谈的茶香。“咦？”你望向吧台后的小哥哥。他穿着一件交领短衫，头上围着一条头巾，一看不像现代人的样子。

The cafe, rather peculiarly, is filled with the aroma of tea leaves instead of freshly brewed coffee. But that’s not all – the barista – with his crossed-lapel shirt and headscarf, looks as though he hails from another time and place.

你又把目光往店里一瞄，只见两位身穿褙子，头梳高髻的女子有说有笑地往座位走去。

You approach the counter as two whispering women brush past you. They are dressed in loose jackets and long pleated skirts, while their updos were adorned with flowers and accessories.

“你们是宋代穿越过来的吗？”略懂传统服饰的你，一脸哑然。

“Are you time-travellers from the Song dynasty?” You ask, recognising the time period of their garments.

“也许是，又或许，我们只是爱好宋代文化的现代人呢。”茶师小哥哥神秘地说。只见他手握茶匙，拨弄着盏里的茶汤。他手法娴熟，不经一会儿功夫，乳白色的茶沫上出现了一只小鸟的图样。

“Perhaps we are. Or perhaps, we are just historical re-enactors obsessed with Song dynasty culture.” The barista, or rather, tea master is deliberately vague. He whips a cup of tea with a deft hand. The foam settles; the likeness of a bird emerges.

“好漂亮呀！”你惊叹。爱喝咖啡的你，习惯了咖啡师们在拿铁上用牛奶拉出的花样。只是，你却未曾想过，宋代人早就已经会在茶上“拉花”。

“That is wonderful!” You gasp. You have always thought of latte art as a modern fad. But tea! The people of the Song Dynasty were really a creative bunch!

“这算什么。你知道吗，五代时有个福全和尚，可厉害了！他能在一碗茶上写一句诗，四碗茶就是一首四言绝句了！ [1]）对了，这位客官，我们店里今天进了新货，惊蛰时节采摘的福建建安好茶，要不尝尝？”

“This is nothing. There was a certain Buddhist Master Fu Quan of the Five Dynasties who was able to shape tea foam into lines of poetry. People flocked to his temple just to see him. By the way, we have a new batch of tea from Jian-an, Fujian, picked during the ‘jingzhe’ season (March). Would you like to try it?”

你点点头。茶师拿出一个铜板大的小茶饼，用砧椎砸碎，再用茶碾迅速地研磨成粉。接着，他用筛子把茶叶细细筛过几遍，才将茶粉舀入用开水烫过的茶盏中。You nod. The tea master retrieves a block of tea no bigger than a Chinese copper coin, and crushes it with a rolling pin, before grinding it into fine powder. Then, he sieves the tea powder several times until the consistency is even. Only then does he scoops the tea powder into a warmed cup.

光是准备工作，已如此繁琐。习惯了随手将茶叶包扔进杯子的你，却意外地享受这个过程。你回过神来，只见茶师已将茶粉和少许水分调成膏状。他再次提起执壶，一点一点地将开水注入茶盏中，一边用一个小刷子快速搅动，只见绿色的茶汤中渐渐泛起乳白色的泡沫，煞是好看。

The preparation process is already time-consuming. Nevertheless, you enjoy the novelty of the whole thing, even if tea bags will always be your first choice for convenience.

You emerge from your thoughts to see the tea master mixing the power with a little water to achieve a paste-like consistency. Once again, he lifts the kettle and pours water bit by bit into the teacup while whisking it with a brush. A layer of white foam began to form above the green liquid.

“这是什么？” 你指着“刷子”问。“这是茶筅。”茶师解释。“这注水和击拂要来回七次，每次力度和方式都要看着情况变化，不可过于大力或无力，否则这茶汤上的泡沫不能持久，一下子就散开了。” [2]

“What is this?” you point at the ‘brush’.”That is a tea-whisk” The tea master explains. “This process of whisking and adding hot water has to be repeated seven times. The tea has to be whisked with varying force, depending on the situation. If the force isn’t right, the foam will thin out after a while.”

茶师放下茶筅，指着茶盏，“您细瞧”。只见茶汤上覆着一层厚厚的，像云朵般酥软的乳白泡沫，泡沫和茶汤形成的脉络，呈现出一副山水图。[3]

Putting aside his whisk, the tea master points at the teacup, “You see.” A fluffy and thick layer of foam sits on the surface of the tea. The foam parted at places to reveal the green liquid underneath. Together, they looked just like a landscape painting.

你啧啧称奇，真是意想不到，宋人居然有这样的巧思妙想，早在一千年前就将喝茶这件事玩得出神入化了。“客官想不想叫点吃食呢？”茶师将茶盏放置在你的面前。“我们店里有包子、重阳糕、丰糖糕、生淹水木瓜、酥油鲍螺…”

You marvel at the tea master’s handiwork. The Song dynasty tea masters were such a creative bunch!”Would you like some snacks to go with your tea?” The tea master asks. “We have steamed buns, glazed papaya, spiral-shaped pastries…”

“不了，我品这一碗茶就好了。” 你付了钱，找了个靠窗的角落坐下。细细啜饮，顿时茶香满溢，苦涩中带着泡沫般的轻盈，一时神清气爽。你眯着眼睛，倚靠在软垫上，午后一点斜阳正从落地窗透进，时间似乎在那刹那间，静止了。

“No thanks, I will just enjoy my cup of tea.” You pay the tea master and look for a nice sunny spot next to a window. You close your eyes slightly and take a sip. At once, the invigorating smell of tea lifts your spirits. You let your lids drop as you lounge on the couch, enjoying your moment of stillness.

恍惚中，你突然想起，刚才忘记拍照发朋友圈了。“临风一啜心自省，此意莫与他人传” [4] 脑海中忽然飘出这句话。

It was then when you realised — you forgot to post on social media.

你释怀了。不分享也罢 — 毕竟这盏茶的滋味，这慵懒的时光，只属于自己，无法言传。

It didn’t matter anyway. There are moments in life that can could not be shared in entirety. It belonged only to yourself, to be experienced and to be lived out fully, in this present moment.

[1]:《清异录》

[2]: 宋徽宗《大观茶论》

[3]: 《荈茗录》

[4]: （元）洪希文《煮土茶歌》

#古人真会玩 #宋代分茶 #ancientpastimes #digitalart

[CH/EN]

这春节一过，不知不觉又到了三月三日的上巳(si4)节。唐代的小姐姐们，今年想好到哪里出游了吗？

Chinese New Year is over. Spring has come. And the lovely ladies of the Tang dynasty are determined to make the most of this long awaited day.

唐朝人最喜欢在上巳节出门玩，而且根据传统，还要找个靠水的地方，欣赏春色。这冬天闷在家里久了，怎样都要趁着大好春天出门透透气。

“What festival is this?” You, a 21st century time traveller, asks. It is the third day of the third month (of the lunar calendar), and it was a big deal for the ancient Chinese. Centuries ago, it was customary to undergo a ritual cleansing bath , but our Tang dynasty ladies no longer practiced public swimming. Rather, they put on their finest, packed their picnic boxes, and sought out a nice riverbank to make the most of the festival.

而小姐姐们拎着吃盒，穿上漂亮的衣裙，成群结伴，找个景色宜人的地方，准备在那儿野餐。可是，这大家闺秀，在大庭广众下吃吃喝喝的，怎么说都不太好看吧？这时，身上的长裙就发挥了用处—她们将裙子挂在竹竿或树枝上，就地搭成一个帷幕，就在帷幕内野餐。外头人一看，只见在风中飘逸的红色长裙，却看不见里头的人儿…这样即尽了兴，又添加几分神秘。

However, even the open-minded Tang dynasty folks considered it unseemly for highborn young ladies to picnic in public. So the ladies, not wanting to miss out on the fun, draped their skirts on poles and branches, effectively forming a makeshift screen. Then they would feast in privacy, safe from prying eyes. (On a side note, there’s a Tang dynasty mural of a group of men feasting in public while people gathered to watch…I suppose our ladies wouldn’t have appreciated being stared at while digging into their packed lunches!)

作画灵感x唐代点心：

据《开元天宝遗事》记载，“长安士女游春野步，遇名花则设席藉草，以红裙递相插挂，以为宴幄。其奢逸如此也”。虽然典籍里写的是“红裙”，但我已将人物色调设定为暖色，为了突出人物，就将背景的裙子涂成冷色调。

We know of these activities thanks to a book “Tales from Kai-Yuan and Tian-Bao Regime”. (a.k.a a historical/novella/gossip column about the period spanning 713-756 A.D.) I have taken liberties with the colours of the skirts here, depicting them as blue-green instead of the red described in the book.

而从这短短的文字中，从“设席”、“宴幄”中便可知，这种户外活动必定少不了吃的。所以我就脑补了她们野餐的画面。那唐代人野餐吃什么呢？《开元天宝遗事》中没写清楚，但我想，她们应该会携带一些方便外带的食品，于是我就参考了新疆阿斯塔那古墓群出土的面饼。

So what did our ladies pack? The book gives no clue (apart from the fact that feasting was involved), so I’ve drawn some easy-to-pack baked goods, using some ancient pastry samples excavated from the Astana tombs in Xinjiang.

说起唐代的点心呢，和我们现代名媛们崇尚的法式下午茶不太一样，黄油、砂糖这种东西太名贵，大部分人都吃不上。但唐朝吃货们发展出一套自己的方法，他们很喜欢吃烤饼和煎饼，有些上面撒有芝麻，有些里面包着馅料。而且根据出土的文物，这些面饼有些带着用模具印出样纹，有些这被扭成各式各样的形状，视觉上有点像德国的pretzels。（这里多加一个冷知识点：唐代人称一切面食食品为“饼”，所以我们现代认知中的面条、饺子、馒头、包子，统统称为“饼”）

Butter and refined sugar were expensive in the Tang dynasty. So the Tang dynasty folks had to improvise — and the result was an astonishing variety of roasted, steamed and deep-fried wheat-based pastry. (Now ‘pasty’ or ‘bing’, is a very generic term for anything made with wheat flour).

Some were stuffed with a variety of fillings, while others were topped with sesame seeds. And the Tang dynasty bakers took great care to make them aesthetically pleasing too. The excavated pastries from the Astana tombs come in various interesting forms, some twisted into pretzel-like shapes, and others pressed with decorative patterns.

当然，新疆离长安还有一段距离的，长安仕女们出游未必吃烤饼，若吃烤饼也未必和新疆的长得一模一样。这里就不那么讲究了。

Of course, there’s quite a distance between Xinjiang and Chang’an, so there may have been regional variations. And the Chang’an ladies did not necessary have pastries during their picnics. It is just imagination on my part.

唐代人也有吃水果的习惯。他们喜欢吃沾上蔗浆和醍醐（酥酪提炼出来的油）的樱桃，入口又甜又酸，（别问我怎么知道，白居易他老人家告诉我的），类似我们的草莓+cream的搭配。这里犯了一个小错误，就是樱桃成熟的季节是春末夏初，和仕女们春游时间不符。但我毕竟是个热带国家的现代人，这点小错就放过我吧。

The people of the Tang dynasty also loved fruits. They had a habit of dipping cherries into cane syrup and refined cream. As the poet Bai Juyi describes it, the end result is both sweet and sour. I’ve taken another artistic liberty here — cherries were only in season at the end of spring, and the ladies enjoying their early spring excursion would not have feasted on it. As a modern person who has no concept of seasonal fruits, (apart from the durian), I beg pardon for this mistake.

此外，唐代点心还有贵妃红、水晶龙凤糕、玉露团等等，光看名字就让人食欲大增。有些还流传到了现代，比如说，上过《舌尖上的中国》的贵妃饼。这款糕点据说传唐宫，但唐朝人吃的和现代版有多大出入，是否长成这个样子，就不得而知了。

The Tang dynasty folks also enjoyed a range of desserts with poetical names. Let me attempt to translate a few – “Scarlet Consort”, “Crystal Dragon and Phoenix Cake”, “Jade Dew Ball”. Here I’ve included the “Consort Pastry” (the white things with red dots) as featured on the series “A Bite of China”. It is said to have originated from the Tang court cuisine, but truth to be told, we have no idea if the pastries actually looked like this, or if they tasted the same as their modern counterpart.

如果现代吃货一个不小心穿越回去，应该会很想念现代的辣椒土豆番茄什么的，但他要是手上有点闲钱，大概也不会太失望吧！

So I guess Tang dynasty food culture is enough to satisfy the modern foodie, despite the lack of chillies, potatoes, tomatoes and whatnot. Provided, of course, you are financially able to splurge on these delicacies! #古人真会玩 #裙幄宴 #唐代风俗 #历史 #插画 #AncientPastimes #xlnyeong